JACKSONVILLE, Fla.  Despite practicing for this situation every week, Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Mike Thomas was still shocked when David Garrard's 50-yard Hail Mary pass was batted his way by Houston Texans cornerback Glover Quin, who also did what he was coached to do.

Thomas' first thought was making sure he collected the ball at his knees before pulling it toward his chest and walking the final yard into the end zone to give the Jaguars a 31-24 victory Sunday that kept them on pace in the AFC South chase. Already his best NFL game, the second-year player capped it with a memorable catch that went viral before he walked off the turf at EverBank Field.

"You never know what to expect on those kind of plays," said Thomas, who finished with a career-high 149 yards on eight catches (matching another best). "My objective is to scoop it. The ball was in the air and I took a glance at it and (Quin) jumped over Mike (Sims-Walker) and batted it, and it fell right in my hand.

"It was like being a little kid at Christmas. I caught it and walked right in there. Then I saw the ref give the (touchdown) signal and the rest is history."

With three seconds left Jacksonville lined up Thomas, Sims-Walker and Marcedes Lewis on the left side and all three split in different directions waiting for Garrard's throw, which merely needed enough air beneath it to create a jump-ball scenario. Every team practices some Hail Mary variation, but players mostly jog through it and the ball isn't even thrown to avoid injury.

Defenders, meanwhile, are taught to knock the ball away rather than intercept it, though Thomas' catch might cause coaches to rethink that strategy. But the consensus was that everybody followed the script, and the ball just bounced Jacksonville's way.

"In that situation, I'm the jumper," Quin said. "(Garrard) threw it. I saw the ball and jumped to knock the ball down. I wasn't thinking about catching it. I was just thinking about knocking it down, getting to overtime and going to win the game.

"Obviously, it was real. This really happened and we lost the game."

If that play's success seemed ironic, consider the circumstances setting it up for the 5-4 Jaguars, tied with Tennessee and a game behind the Indianapolis Colts in the South. They led 17-3 at halftime before the Texans (4-5) awoke in the third quarter to tie on two Matt Schaub touchdown passes and then trade scores in the fourth.

Jacksonville moved into field goal range on its next-to-last possession but a holding penalty on left tackle Eugene Monroe later proved costly when normally automatic Jaguars kicker Josh Scobee sliced a 43-yard field goal wide left — his second miss of the game after entering perfect on 13 attempts.

"I didn't have the effort on that kick, but this is a team game and they bailed me out," Scobee said.

Houston (4-5) took over at its 33 with 1:34 remaining without a timeout and drove to Jacksonville's 45, getting eight yards closer for kicker Neil Rackers when Matt Schaub (22 of 32, 314 yards) hit Joel Dreessen down the middle. But Dreessen fumbled after being hit by Sean Considine, and the loose ball was recovered by Justin Durant.

"They would've had a hard time (kicking a field goal) because they went over the middle," Considine said. "That's where we wanted them to go with the ball. As long as I got him down there that was going to hopefully be the game, but you never know if they would've got up and spiked the ball."

Starting on their 34 with eight seconds left, the Jaguars weren't thinking field goal as Garrard (24 of 31 passing for a career-high 342 yards, including a 52-yard score to Zach Miller) hit Lewis for 11 yards to stop the clock. An offsides penalty put them at midfield, well within Garrard's range and close enough for coach Jack Del Rio to consider the miracle pass.

"I was just looking to see would we be able to step up and get it off," Del Rio said, "and then I'm saying, 'Is it going to get far enough?'… When they batted it, they didn't bat it down, they didn't have Mike screened off and Mike was opportunistic and made a great play. That's not a high-percentage play. But you work on them, we work on them every week. It was great to see that happen for us."

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